Check out this Brilliant Way to Help Kids Learn Multiplication Tables

I have to admit that I never really learned all my multiplication tables. I don’t know how that’s possible, but it is. I couldn’t tell you want 7 times 6 is or 8 times 9 (well, maybe that one because I can think through the 9s pretty well, but there are quite a few numbers I’m clueless on).

That’s going to be a real problem for me soon because my daughter is going to start learning them probably sooner than I think. I think this solution from Planning Playtime for using songs to learn multiplication tables will make it easier for both of us.

The idea is to use common kid songs they already know the tune to, replacing the words with the numbers, skip counting style. Example: count by 4s to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” There are links to little animated videos on her site for numbers 3 through 9, as well as a printable with the music and numbers you’ll need to teach these songs to your kids (or yourself).

I think I could learn the math facts I missed in school this way, and it would probably help my child as well.

What about you? Have you taught math facts in this way, or do you have another cool method for learning multiplication tables? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via Planning Playtime.]

Looking for more resources? Check out these board games for learning Math and Multiplication?

Several countries have a day set aside to honor and recognize their inventors, but Nov. 9 is a special one that’s known as Tag der Erfinder in German. It’s celebrated in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and it falls on Nov. 9 because that’s the birthday of Hedy Lamarr.

Hedy Lamarr is widely known as an actress but there’s a lot more to her story. You can get a little of it geared to little kids in the Little People, Big Dreams book Hedy Lamarr (32 pages, hardcover, published 2023 by Frances Lincoln Childrens Books, suggested retail price $15.99).

The book explores her birth in Austria and how she spent time when she was young coming up with inventions. She became an actress, married an arms dealer, made her escape to America and became an actress again.

But she also helped develop a frequency-hopping signal device for airplanes that was used by the Americans and their allies during World War II. That technology became the basis for wireless technology such as wifi and GPS.

While Inventor’s Day is a great time to learn about Hedy Lamarr, you can take this opportunity to check out books and do little studies on lots of different inventors. If there’s an inventor or an invention your child is particularly interested in, that’s a great place to start. It’s fun to think about all the things we use every day that didn’t always exist; someone had to invent them!

For a start here at Craft Gossip you can learn more about Garrett Morgan, who invented traffic lights; Maria Oroso, who developed a clay oven that could cook food without electricity; and more female inventors and scientists.

And for more general inventors’ fun, check out this inventors word search from Fun Findery (and another from Let’s Do Puzzles) or take a quiz on inventors and their inventions from Flanders Family Home Life.

Have you read?

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